Controlling an invasive species demands a well-planned management, which includes the determination of the invaded area, identifying the causes of invasion, assessing the impacts, defining the intervention priorities, selecting the adequate control methodologies and their application. Afterwards it is fundamental to monitor the efficiency of the methodologies and recuperation of the intervened area as to perform, whenever necessary, the follow-up control.

Although bibliographic references don’t reference the specific methodologies to control Eryngium pandanifolium, we suggest the use of methodologies applicable to other species that inhabit the same type of habitat and that have similar characteristics:

Physical control

Hand pulling: preferential methodology for seedlings and young plants. It should be done before fruit maturation. It should be guaranteed that no larger roots and/or fragments remain in the soil.

Invasive Plants

Many ecosystems in Portugal are deeply affected by invasive species, either animal or plants. This means considerable economical losses, huge impacts on biodiversity, changes in the ecosystems services and even public health issues.

Our goal is to explain this problem, educating not only the common citizen but also specialized technicians to recognize and control invasive species.